LIBYA Rebel reinforcements converge outside one of Muammar Gadhafi's last strongholds in Libya, even as the forces arrayed against the toppled dictator give the town a chance to surrender and avoid a fight. Thousands of rebels reach Bani Walid, a desert town some 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. Gadhafi has been on the run since losing his capital last month. Rebel forces can't declare total victory until Gadhafi is caught and areas like Bani Walid are subdued. They have shown they are willing to be patient, perhaps hoping to avoid a bitter inter-tribal fight that could create lasting divisions. ___ SYRIA Syrian soldiers raid homes and make arrests Monday in a manhunt for an attorney general who appeared on video last week saying he defected from President Bashar Assad's regime to protest a violent government crackdown on dissent, activists said. Soldiers demanding information about Adnan Bakkour fan out near the Turkish border and in central Syria, Security forces killed at least one person near the Turkish border. Bakkour's whereabouts remain unclear. His defection appears to be the highest-level so far in the five-month Syrian uprising. ___ EGYPT An Egyptian senior police officer says there were no orders to shoot protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square in startling testimony at the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak on charges he was complicit in killing Egyptians involved in the uprising against his rule. The testimony comes from a police general who is called to the stand by prosecutors who expected him to reveal who gave orders for police to open fire on protesters. But Gen. Hussein Moussa says police were ordered to use only tear gas and rubber bullets and resorted to live ammunition only to protect police stations. It was a dramatic and confusing start to the prosecution's case. ___ YEMEN Yemeni warplanes launch a series of airstrikes in a southern province overrun by Islamic militants, killing at least seven civilians and a dozen militants. At least 12 militants are killed in airstrikes in eastern Abyan province and dozens of militants are killed in the north of the province. Fighters with suspected links to Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot took over towns in Abyan, including the provincial capital and another major town, Jaar, in April, taking advantage of turmoil that grew out of mass demonstrations demanding the resignation of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh. ___ TUNISIA A young man dies in a clash in the depressed central mining town of Metlaoui between rival groups rocking the town for two nights. Metlaoui and neighboring cities have been the scene of unrest on several occasions since an uprising that forced strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power on Jan. 14.
